Let's get cookin #2

OK, time to post another bit of yumminess from my Saturday-o-cookin! (Which I get to do again in a few days!) Now, there's not a lot of actual "cooking" in this one per se, just a microwave moment, but it counts, right?

Premise behind this...quick, easy, cheap breakfast, withOUT resorting to poptarts! My kids like cereal, but don't always get moving quickly enough to sit down & eat a bowl before school. So I took some of their favorite cereals (that just happened to be on sale & Mommy had coupons for, or we'd be bagging it!!) & made them in the time honored tradition of rice krispie treats...with my own twist.

Ingredients first!

Gather everything together first, cereal, marshmallows (1 bag per batch), butter (1/2 stick per batch), &...this is my OWN addition, protein powder & milled flax seed. You need approx 7 cups of cereal, so pick & choose, mix & match to your (or your kids) heart's content!

Chocolate & Honey Nut Cheerios

Mix in a scoop of protein powder & sprinkle a LIGHT layer of flax onto the dry cereal.
DON'T shake or mix the bowl, or it all sinks to the bottom & makes a glorious mess! (My first batch was very powdery & messy due to this, 2nd batch, just yummy goodness)

Love my Pampered Chef mixing bowl!

In a microwave safe bowl (preferably glass), dump the marshmallows, & your butter. Microwave for approx 90 seconds, stirring every 30 (adjust as needed for your micorwave), until you get smooth, creamy marshmallowey (new word?) goodness! (Use a pot holder, handles get PRETTY toasty on those things!)

Next dump it all into your dry cereal mix, blend well, & press into a greased 9x13 pan (I have a glass one, less sticky mess, if using metal, I suggest lining with foil & greasing that). Let it set & voila!!

Chocolate & Honey Nut Cheerios

Vanilla Chex & Honey Nut Cheerios

Now, as I wanted to make two batches, & was trying to figure out, how can I keep 'em from sticking to each other when the kids are rushing, foil came to my mind. So after cutting my first batch into bars, I wrapped each bar in a piece of foil & bagged 'em for use throughout the week.The second batch, I left in the pan & used the lid I have for it to keep it fresh all week. I think next week, we're going for two pans with lids! This worked, but was a bit time consuming. I've got enough going on without adding anything to it!

Not pretty, but it works!!

Wow!! That works!!

Ok, a quickie....but I know I pinned this...& it works! When boiling pasta, add a bit of olive oil...no boiling over!!

They SELL that?

OK, so I got my advertising email from Sam's club today. I scroll through the things on sale & then I stop & have to do a double take. There's a 1yr emergency food supply kit for a single person. I had to click on that, just to see. And off to the side while on their site, I see more options available. 72 hr 2 person kits. 1 yr for 4 people. All over the spectrum. I just had a moment of ...hmm, they SELL those?

Now I understand that there are folks prepared for emergencies. I have extra cans of food & jugs of water in my basement. I've lived through week long power outages due to inland winds from Katrina & a major ice storm. I understand be prepared, on a small scale. I understand the need or desire to stock up for a long term emergency. But I thought it'd be something you do yourself. Extra cans here, extra batteries there. Slowly build up something substantial to keep your family going.

But I guess it's kinda neat to see a way for a non-planner to just go out & buy it & have it there. Ready. And I say non-planner as in someone who just doesn't do well with logistics, not that they don't think ahead. There's a difference.

Watch me go out & get one of the smaller pails next time too! I have 5 people in my house, wouldn't hurt! I mean seriously, I live in part of tornado alley, there's a fault line running through my city, & the river valley gets some of the funkiest weather imaginable someday! And if the winter holds true...Dec 2004-2 ft snow. Jan 2009-ice storm. I say this winter has a chance of being...icky.

Oily skin hero!

OK, this is a plug for my new favorite Avon skin cream! Shameless promotion of a product I sell! But hear me out, I don't.  do.  skin cream.  EVER.  Not ever. I'll struggle through with some sunscreen, but it all turns my face into one big shiny slick mess! Then comes winter, still with the oily mess happening, but with flakiness I can attribute to FUN Kentucky weather!

But THIS...THIS stuff is glorious! For this entire summer, I've been using this (the oil-free version, of course) & my face feels awesome! Yes, I still have breakouts, hormones are wonderful things, after all, but it's not due to this in any way, as it comes & goes with my normal regularity!!

Now, there's more nifty products in the same line, of course. But nothing I can personally vouch for, other than I know Avon is good stuff! I've never had a product NOT do what it's supposed to! This is just me personally. Yes, I sell the stuff, but I sell it because I love it!

 Now, of course, you can order it from me! Along with a number of other awesome Avon product! I'll TRY not to shamelessly post about my business TOO often, but if I love it, you'll know about it!

 My Avon Store

Let's get cookin #1

OK, I mentioned I got my menu planned & went shopping with my mega list. Well, I can't share that without sharing the results. So the next few posts will be some of the goodies we made to make life a bit easier over the next two weeks.

BIG thanks to Blissful & Domestic for her WONDERFUL menu plans, recipes, shopping list & even list of staples to keep in the pantry! Granted, I had to change recipes & amounts based on a larger family, who are a bit pickier on some things, & I'm not brave enough to shop for a whole month yet! But all in all, love her for it!

So, project #1...meatballs! Covers 3 of our meals over next two weeks, so we made 5lb!

First of all, there are some veggies that my kids (& their dad) just won't touch. But I love them, & we have an abundance thanks to family & friends with gardens. So squash & zucchini in a food processor are wondrous things! So are oats & flax seed in a coffee grinder, corn flakes that Melodie had a blast helping me crush!

March, march, march!

So here's my recipe (I use that term loosely, as I just throw what sounds good in the bowl):

5lbs ground beef
Worcestershire sauce
Balsamic vinegar
Squash
Zucchini
Peppers
Onion
Crushed Corn Flakes
Ground oats
Ground flax seed
Italian Spaghetti Seasoning
Greek Seasoning

Forgive me, but I don't have amounts. I am one of those cooks that drives recipe oriented folks nuts.

So, the fun part, or monotonous part, depending on your point of view. Mix it all in a large bowl (hands work best, gross, but yeah) then start rolling! (Casey helped with this part)

Rollin, rollin, rollin...

Then we baked at 350 for 15 minutes per pan!

Yummy, my house smells GREAT!!!

Then, once cooled in a glass bowl for a few minutes (had to keep cycling my baking pans), we bagged em up in quart size freezer bags & popped 'em in! (My cookie sheet for my toaster oven is GREAT for keeping the bag flat so they freeze in a nice layer)

To reheat, I dumped 'em in a glass bowl, popped 'em in the microwave for 5 minutes on 20% power & voila! Kids' & hubby scarfed 'em down in spaghetti! Have a night of "Swedish" meatballs & Italian meatball subs next week!

Not about the nail polish

Yes, I really said that! Me, the nail polish addict who sells Avon to afford it! :-) 

But really, sometimes, it's just about taking care of yourself to feel pretty. Nothing "extra" or "flashy" just good ol' fashion care!

I feel silly

Ever have one of those "duh" moments where you thought "why did I not think of that sooner?" That's me! 

I very rarely actually use my hair spray. So of course, it clogs up from sitting around. I use all of the "typical" tricks, hot water over the nozzle, etc. 

I feel almost genius with this, yet not for the fact it took me so long to realize it! I had an extra travel size pump bottle at home. Just filled it with my hairspray & we're in business! I know, how easy was that?! Less than $1 & problem solved! 

Shopping (& hopefully spending) less

I have finally gotten my stuff together!

I have chosen my menu selections for 2 weeks. (Thank you to my Casey for his assistance!)

I made my list of every ingredient needed, even flour & sugar!

I went through freezer, pantry, & cabinets & checked off what I already had!

Tonight, I shop! If it's not on the list, I am NOT buying it! Really, I mean it!

But I also have baskets for my pantry. I WILL be throwing out junk tomorrow!

And prepping as much as humanly possible to get supper down to 30 min cook time or less! I am going to bake, chop, fry, & freeze breakfast foods for the week.

No more pop-tarts & cold cereal! (Though I have recipes for homemade pop-tarts & cereal bars, so it's not like I'm going all crazy or anything).

I will not go to the store for ANYTHING (except bread or milk-I'm not brave enough to freeze milk, & the bread store is on the way home) for 2 weeks.

Now wish me luck! I'm gonna do a before/after shot of the pantry later!


(And I'm going to start blogging here, & just linking it to my tumblr. That way it still feeds to FB w/out all of my stuff needing changed, but the content is combined with my BFF's!!)